Binded Destiny
by AceShadow
Summary: After spending nearly four years away from Hillwood city, Arnold finally returns back to the place he learned to love and cherish. But in the wake of his absence, he soon discovers that many things have changed. While he struggles to adapt, he will find himself developing a close relationship with Lila Sawyer; his elementary crush, and a girl who will need him more than ever.
1. A Fresh Start

**A/N: This will be my first HA! fanfiction so hopefully you all enjoy! I've always wondered why this pairing was written so little about, so I decided to take a different approach.**

**Reviews and everything greatly appreciated! **

**Anyway, I don't own Hey Arnold obviously.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

Chapter 1: A Fresh Start

"Hey Arnold!" Arnold turned back quickly to find the owner of the voice. Much to his surprise, he had run into his best friend since elementary school, Gerald, on the way to the school bus stop. It was his first day back in Hillwood, and he was both excited and uneasy to be back in his native city. It had been four years since he left at the end of fifth grade, leaving behind a life that he had learned to adore and cherish. _Four whole years... _he thought to himself. It was a frightening notion really, he was almost certain that everyone and _everything _he once knew had changed. But of course that was inevitable, time is constant and stops for no one, and Arnold was no exception.

He walked slowly towards his best friend who interestingly enough resembled his past self, just older and slightly more mature. He was still flashing off that gigantic afro of his which never seemed to go out of style... to Gerald anyway. His clothes changed however, now a days he was wearing a plain white tee with a pair of regular fitted jeans and a pair of black and white vans. But other than that, he was still same old Gerald he was familiar with.

Glad to see his old buddy, Arnold promptly responded back. "Gerald! I haven't seen you in forever!" upon getting closer, they did the same old hand shake they did since elementary school. "Where you been man?! Honestly all you told me was that your were spontaneously moving one day and then poof, that was it you were gone." Gerald interjected, curious to where his best friend had briefly disappeared too.

"Umm, Los Angeles, hey there's our ride." The boy pointed towards the yellow bus that was pulling up next to them.

Cautiously, they walked in checking for anything out of the ordinary, they were after all_ fresh meat_. Being freshmen, they were both excited yet nervous, having heard stories of the upper classmen doing horrendous things to their younger counterparts. Gerald was particularly worried about entering high school and he went on and on about how they were going to be oppressed individuals forced to kneel under the imposed monarchy of high school. Too Arnold he sounded, well, over dramatic, like they were about to be imprisoned by a totalitarian government or something. Of course he made valid points about how they would be viewed as inferior, but hey that's high school, nothing they could do about that. But being the logical person he was, Arnold didn't believe in most it anyway. "Dude, just relax, I'm sure they're just made up stories made to scare the incoming freshmen."

Gerald smirked, this didn't surprise him one bit "Man Arnold, you've always been so optimistic. How was Los Angeles by the way?"

Arnold shrugged, Los Angeles wasn't the most pleasant experience he'd ever endured. It was pretty fast paced down there,_ too_ fast paced for the usually relaxed boy's liking. Sure, he was used to living in the big city, but the place was so radically different from what he was used to it was hard to adapt. He didn't regret leaving the place one bit in all honesty. "Eh, it was alright. I mean it just wasn't meant for me."

His friend with the giant afro gasped. "What do you mean man?! I mean the Los Angeles has Hollywood, gets a lot of music earlier than the rest of the country, and so many other wonderful things! What do you mean not meant for you?" Gerald found this unbelievable for whatever reason. He'd love to move to Los Angeles.

The blonde haired boy sighed, "well... it just wasn't. I don't know, it's cool and all, but the people there aren't as welcoming as they are here. Over there their too busy with their own lives, no one stops to say hello or asks how's your day. Hell they just ignore each other there. I mean I know people here can get pretty bad, but in Los Angeles it's like dog eat dog, it's ridiculous." His dark friend nodded, guess Arnold was still the same after all these years; laid back, optimistic, and caring.

They were seated near the front of the bus, anxious to be the first to get off the minute they arrived at school. Arnold scanned the bus, somewhat recognizing the people around him, although he kept to the confinements of his seat away from any wandering eyes. It's not like he was intentionally ignoring them, he just didn't want to have to fathom the embarrassment of saying hi to the totally wrong person. It was only after a few minutes did the people in the bus start recognizing who the boy was.

"Arnold! Is that you?!" A familiar yet oddly deeper southern voice called out. He twisted his head to the back of the bus, spotting both Sid and Stinky. The two of them had grown significantly since Arnold last saw them, having underwent puberty and a variety of other changes. Stinky was much more taller, his body towering out of his seat, and Sid, well, just older really and slightly taller. Both of them were staring at him in disbelief, "Dude, I didn't know you were moving were moving back." Sid stated, while Stinky nodded in agreement. Arnold opened his mouth ready to answer back, but was interrupted when Sid struck a sudden conversation with Gerald. "Ready for the first day of high school man? I heard they already got the trash cans ready for us..." he turned his attention to Arnold, his eyes full of sincere fear. No doubt this is where Gerald got his conspiracy theories from, and there's no telling how much fear mongering the paranoid teen spread to all the other incoming freshmen.

Arnold casually shook his head. But he noticed that there was one person missing from Stinky and Sid's group, "Where's Harold, don't you guys usually hang out with him?" The two smirked, "Yeah, but he got there earlier before us..." and then literally out of no where Sid's face went from one of amusement to one of utter seriousness in a fraction of a second. "Good thing he did though, he got there earlier so he can find a hiding place from the onslaught of upper classmen. See, we're the stupid one's really, they know a freshmen when they see one, and us coming out of this bus just makes it easier for them to spot." Gerald remained silent in total agreement with Sid. Arnold rolled his eyes, quickly diverting his vision back to the seat in front of him. "Whatever you say man."

Arnold gazed around the interior vehicle once more, wondering if there were any more occupants inside that he knew since elementary. That question was soon answered when he heard someone fall off their seat just in front of them, hitting their face smack dab on the metal floor. "I'm ok!" The boy yelled out, everyone on board either shaking their heads or chuckling in secrecy. The person in question was Eugene, and it had appeared to Arnold that sadly he was still plagued with misfortunes even in high school. He got back up on his feet, turning his head towards Arnold's direction. "Oh hey Arnold, long time no see, yeah I know, still have bad luck, I'm used to it."

"Good to see you too." Arnold replied back, producing a half pity, half genuine smile. The bus stopped one final time before arriving at school, taking in a mass of students. He recognized some of them, but for the most part many of the student's who entered he was unfamiliar with. But amidst the crowd, a familiar voice shouted out. "Hey guys! Look football head is back!" the crowd of girls diverted their attention to the person the blonde girl was calling out. He still didn't get it, the shape of his head was totally normal, but it had appeared that Helga refused to give up the pet name. Old habits die hard he supposed. "It's nice to see to you too Helga" he answered back blandly, his facial expression pointing out that he was slightly annoyed. The group of girls walked down the bus aisle greeting him as they searched for seats; among them Phoebe, Rhonda, and Nadine, all who appeared to still have the same ties they had in elementary school. In matter of fact, everyone he'd countered seemed to have kept in touch with each other.

Strange enough as Phoebe passed, she smiled at Gerald. "remember our anniversary this weekend!" She whispered in his direction. "Sure thing babe" he responded back.

Arnold nearly gasped, wait what? "Dude, are you two like finally going out?" Gerald smiled, his aura full of confidence, "yep, since the 7th grade, you've missed a lot since you left man and that was just one of them." Well then, apparently he had a lot of catching up to do if that was the case.

"Hey Arnold" a timid yet sweet sounding voice broke out from the side of him. He felt a soft hand gently touch his shoulder, causing him to lift his head up to look at the unknown girl. He was stunned at the sight, the girl in question had amazingly gentle light green eyes, which coincided with her dark reddish-brown hair. Her astounding smile nearly made him die inside, it was so genuine... so perfect.

"Lila?"

She chuckled, "Yeah, who else do you think it is?" her warm smile continued, god if she was pretty back then, she was absolutely gorgeous now. He was totally captivated by Lila, and not just by her face either. He scanned her figure from head to toe, careful not to stare awkwardly at any of her bodily features for too long. She wasn't too tall, but at the same time wasn't too short, and her body appeared to be forming into a well defined and curved shape; her transformation into an adult women still ongoing. Arnold would make the argument that she was almost model worthy, especially for a girl her age. No telling how she'd look later in high school or once she reached college.

"Lila!" Rhonda called out, patting her hand on the seat she'd reserved for her farm girl companion. She twisted her head back, answering back to her friend, "Coming!" Lila turned back to Arnold, her face lit up with happiness. Then much to his dismay, she lifted her hand off his shoulder, which instantly turned cold with her warm touch now gone. "Hey I'm glad to see your back, I'll talk to you when I see you round school yeah?" Arnold nodded, attempting to muster up what he thought was a charming smirk, "Yeah, I'll see you then."

"Ok, bye Arnold." She walked down the aisle towards her friends, who were busy chatting about some non-interpretable nonsense. He sighed. Jesus, Lila had gotten incredibly attractive, well, more attractive he should say. Her image was seared into his mind, and it wouldn't go away anytime soon, that much he knew. The funny thing is that when any other girl would greet him in the shame fashion, he'd shrug it off, almost uninterested in the attention he was receiving. But Lila was different, there was something about that girl he couldn't quite put his finger on. Arnold brushed off the thought, he was just glad that she still acknowledged him after all these years, even going so far as to affectionately touching his shoulder to show how sincere her greeting was.

"Yo Arnold... Arnold, Earth to Arnold, come in Arnold!" Gerald was spontaneously waving his hand in front of his friend, who only now just broke out of his trance after minutes of deep thought. "Oh, what's up man?"

Gerald smirked. "don't think for a second that you can hide what's going on."

"I don't know what your talking about man." he protested back.

"I say you should go for Lila man." Oh god, was it that obvious? Arnold looked around, hoping no one else just saw his encounter with the girl.

"Relax man, no one saw, I gotcha back anyway." Gerald assured.

Well, there was no point in trying to keep a secret from him now. It was blatantly obvious that Arnold was still attracted to his elementary crush. "Whatever, just keep it on the down low please bro, besides I just think she's cute anyway." His best friend rolled his eyes, "Yeah whatever lover boy. Anyway we're here at school."

Gerald pointed at a sign that was engraved with "Hillwood High School" in stone.

To Arnold, entering high school represented more than just moving up the educational system, it represented a new start, a new start that he hoped wouldn't be tampered with. As the bus stopped, he found himself submerged deep within his own consciousness. For whatever reason Lila still weighed heavily on his mind, but he couldn't quite figure out why. He had minor crushes on other girls before, but usually those wore off in a matter of months.

But Lila was the exception.

Trying to dismiss the thoughts, he got up from the bus seat with his friend Gerald. High school awaited, and so did his future.


	2. Orientation

Chapter 2: Orientation

He stepped out of the bus, careful, yet full of confidence. Today he was wearing a pair of red vans and denim jeans, along with a grey shirt that had the word "Supreme" stamped in the middle of a small red box logo on the chest section of the shirt. It was a simple yet clean outfit, and even caught the attention of many people around him. Gerald was trailing close behind, still paranoid about the idea of the upper classmen potentially sticking them into trash cans, or pulling off some other type of mischievous prank. He was still traumatized by what happened to him in fourth grade, and he be damned if he let it happen again.

Cautiously, they exited the bus and onto the side walk, only to be greeted by what appeared to be a well maintained in-door high school, and a large trimmed lawn that served as it's front. The campus it self appeared to massive, and both were almost certain they would get lost just trying to find their classes. Arnold checked his watch, they were actually pretty early, thirty minutes early to be exact, and many of the students of Hillwood high were either waiting outside on the lawn or flocking into the school. Contrary to Arnold's calm demeanor, Gerald was experiencing a little case of anxiety._ This had to be a trap, it just had to be_. There was no way their first day of high school would pass without an incident, that just wasn't how things worked. The seniors must be waiting somewhere, fully loaded with freshmen humiliating weapons of mass destruction.

"Hey you two must be new right?" A girl with neatly kept brown hair walked up to them. Her appearance suggested that there was no way she was a freshmen but rather... a senior? No, that couldn't be, all upper classmen are evil; according to Gerald anyway. They nodded reluctantly, Gerald suspicious about her motives. "Ah, of course. Well take these", she handed them a small booklet before she continued, " it's a map of the school and has the calendar and schedules, enjoy your time at Hillwood high!" And with that she walked off, leaving Gerald utterly confused.

"Dude, she didn't trap us in a trash can, get us jumped, make us her slaves, make us..."

"OK Gerald, I get it." Arnold interrupted, stopping his friend from creating a long list of false accusations. Geeze, if Gerald was this bad imagine how Sid was handling this situation... actually never mind he'd rather not think about that.

The two friends walked up the steps that led up into the entrance of the school, when a weird sensation suddenly fell upon Arnold's childhood friend.

"Ehm, where do you think your going mister?" rubbing the back of his head, Gerald reluctantly turned back. What was Phoebe going to bust him for this time?

"Um... into the high school with Arnold?" This had to be a test, if it's anything Gerald had learned while going out with Phoebe is that all women are the same. It's almost like they _expected_ men to read their minds. Seriously, he watched enough chick flicks to know exactly where this was heading. First the girl asks a random question, then the guy answers back, then literally five minutes later there arguing back and fourth about a totally different subject!

"Oh I see." And with that she trailed off, leaving one last comment with Gerarld."It's not like I'm a freshmen who's totally vulnerable to other guys, I mean like come on now, who would seriously care about a girl such as my self, especially if they assumed I was single. But it's ok, I'll just walk alone, maybe I'll make a new guy friend or something." Arnold stared at the Asian girl stunned, when the heck did Phoebe become so self-assertive and outright sarcastic?

Gerald didn't take a second to glance back at Arnold before he ran after Phoebe, who was now ten feet away from them. In fact, all he could hear from Gerald's frantic pacing was, "Arnold I'll catch you at lunch! Yo babe wait up!" which he found to be pretty amusing.

_Gerald is totally whipped._

Realizing that he was now alone, Arnold supposed that now was a good time to explore the large campus. He navigated around the crowded halls, passing by students who were busy filling in their lockers, gossiping, or trying to find their clique.

"Arnold, hey wait up."

He stopped, recognizing the familiar pitch of the girl's voice. Lila promptly pulled up next to him, gazing up at the taller boy. All around him his fellow classmates stared at him in awe, where they have failed, Arnold had succeeded without even trying. She was extremely popular among the guys, and even in high school that proved to be no exception. However, no one has even gotten close to getting into a relationship with her. Sure, she was sweet, compassionate, and well-mannered, but that didn't mean she was vulnerable to any just guy. Everyone who approached her was either kindly turned down, or god forbid, placed in that eternal bottomless pit of never ending sorrow and despair known as the 'friend zone.'

"Hello Arnold, where's your friend Gerald?"

"Oh with Phoebe" he replied. "Dude's totally whipped." Arnold added, wishing he never said that.

_Well that was lame_

Lila giggled quietly, "Aw I see, yeah he is well, kept under a tight leash so to speak."

"So where are all your friends, didn't you get off the bus with them?"

"Oh, they're busy flirting with some guys or something. Hey did you get your schedule yet?" He shook his head, that had totally escaped his mind whatever reason.

"Did you get yours?" She nodded, holding up a piece of paper in front of face.

"Where do you get them?" At this point he felt like he was just bombarding her with questions, which he believed reflected poorly on himself. He was feeling stupid, first he forgot to get his class schedule, and now he didn't know where to get them. If he was trying to impress her with his intelligence, he was failing horribly.

"Oh, they're handing them out in the gym, I'll walk with you there if you like." Lila didn't seem to mind the boy's confusion, and Arnold was glad of it.

He rubbed the back of his neck. "You sure?" he questioned.

"I'm sure, besides, we haven't talked in awhile." Lila replied cheerfully as she turned to address him.

He smiled, "Yeah... I suppose we have some catching up to do, and thanks again Lila, in case you haven't noticed I'm well... kind of lost here."

"Understandable." she responded back.

They travelled through the halls towards the gym, which was literally across the campus from them. While they were walking, Lila asked a question that caught Arnold off-guard. "Hey Arnold, where were you all this time? I mean, you left without saying much... you were just well, gone." Her usually chipper and cheerful vocals were reduced to a quiet yet sad tone.

Arnold took note, she sounded almost hurt that he left, and that was enough to make him feel guilty inside. "I moved to Los Angeles. Seriously, one day I just came home and my grandparents told me we were moving for a business trip in the morning. I didn't have time to tell anyone really, I mean the only person I had time to even tell was Gerald, but even then I couldn't say where."

"Oh." was all Lila managed to say.

"Hey you ok?" Arnold began to become concerned, was it something he said? Lila remained silent for a moment before her mood changed back to her casual joyful self. "Don't worry about it, all that matters is that your back."

Her words still didn't change the fact that he was still somewhat depressed of the notion that his absence had inadvertently caused Lila pain. He felt a bit irresponsible for not taking the liberty of saying good bye, especially since they were close friends. After what seemed like forever, they found themselves standing in front of the gym along with the other masses of students waiting to get their class schedules from the stands that were categorized by last name order.

"I'll go ahead and get my schedule, you can leave if you want." He spotted the stand with the first letter of his last name. Unluckily for him, there were about ten or so other students that were ahead of him.

"It's ok, I'll wait in line with you." she responded back softly, catching Arnold by surprise. He wasn't expecting her to throw him the offer; but hey, he wasn't complaining. But just out of common decency, he wanted to make sure she didn't feel obligated to stay with him. "Are you sure? You don't have to, it'll probably be a long wait anyway."

Lila smiled, nodding her head in approval. At least she appeared to be staying with him willingly.

* * *

The whole entire time she remained next to him, never once complaining about how long the line was or how bad her legs hurt from standing up too long. There wasn't much interaction going on between the two, but none of them really minded. Finally Arnold went up next, saying his last name so that the lady working at the stand could check off his name and hand him his schedule.

As she waited silently at his side, Lila pulled out her phone and checked the time; 7:15am, which left them only about fifteen minutes to get to class. But she wasn't in much of a rush, it's not like the teachers marked off students for being late on the first day of school anyway, besides, she was enjoying getting re-acquaintanced with her old friend. Unbeknownst to Arnold, Lila had missed him, and that was an understatement. In the wake of his sudden disappearance, she uncharacteristically interrogated many of the people who knew him for days, trying to find out where her football headed friend had gone off to. But she soon came to the conclusion that no one knew exactly where he left too, just that he moved. Upon stumbling on this realization, Lila was depressed for a brief period of time, and she couldn't understand why. Of course being sad that Arnold moved without her knowing made sense, but she couldn't help but feel that there was something much more than that.

Hell, she even got into a bitter argument with her friend Helga about the subject, who at the time was still madly in love with him. Lila's sudden urge to find out where Arnold was located gave the impression to Helga that she was trying to steal Arnold away from her, but that was far from the truth. It simply wasn't in girl's nature to steal boys away from anyone, especially from one of her best friends. Luckily for them, the drama subsided and slowly but surely Helga's love for the boy seemed to fade away.

Arnold stood in front of her, scanning his class schedule. He had Art for first his period, PE second, Spanish third, World Geography fourth, Algebra 1 fifth(much to his dismay, he hated math), and finally Accelerated English.

"Mind if I see what classes you have? We might have a couple together." Lila asked.

"Sure."

She was quick to compare their two schedules together, holding them side by side to see if they had any classes that matched up. The blonde boy waited in anticipation just hoping by some miracle she had at least one class with him.

_Just one class, c'mon. _

She handed back his paper and smiled, "looks like we have English together in room 362, the teachers name is Ms. McKenzie. I didn't know you were also in Accelerated English!" To his amazement, his wish had come true.

"Really? Mind if I see your classes?" He asked cautiously, praying that she didn't confuse them as being in the same class by accident. He scanned her class schedule, which was filled with accelerated or advanced courses. This didn't surprise the boy one bit, she was always smart and organized.

_Hmm ok... she has Geometry(one full course ahead of him), Accelerated World History, Biology, Spanish, PE, and then... Yes! Accelerated English._

Arnold returned the piece of paper, careful not wrinkle it. "Wow, your taking some pretty hard classes, you sure you can handle them?"

The red-headed girl beamed innocently, making directly eye contact with the boy. "Of course, besides I want to make it into a decent university so that I can get a good paying job when I graduate. I just want to get create a better life for myself and my daddy you know? And my way of achieving that goal is by obtaining a proper education."

She was already thinking long term, and that was a trait he greatly admired. He knew her situation at home was difficult, and even though her father found a stable job, they were still struggling to make ends meet.

Lila checked her phone again, promptly putting it back in her pocket, "Arnold, it's ten minutes till school starts, we should really start getting to our classes." The blonde boy faced her, realizing that she had inched far closer to his side than he remembered.

"Oh wow already? Well, where's your first class?" he asked. Even though he saw her schedule, he didn't bother to remember any of the room numbers. The only class he knew they had together was English, and that was in room 362.

"Room 407, how about you?"

"Room 503... hey I'll walk you to class." Their classes for first period were pretty far apart, and if he decided to walk her, he was sure he'd be cutting it close.

She stared at him, eyes wide open. "Really? I mean I don't want you to run late."

Arnold smirked, "Yeah, it's fine."

Lila was somewhat taken back by his offer, not used to someone acting like a gentlemen towards her. Well, that wasn't totally true, but everyone who did had other motives for doing so... But she didn't get that feeling from Arnold, who she sensed was being sincere. "Aw, that's so nice of you!" The red-headed girl innocently tilted her head to the side and gazed up at Arnold.

They walked through the now emptying hallways as student's scampered around to find their first class of the day. They were only several feet from Lila's first class when they ran into an unpleasant surprise.

"Hey cutie." a deep voice said near one of the lockers.

Lily turned back hesitantly. "Um... Hi Wolfgang."

"What you doing later on girl?" His tone seem to convey a message of impurity and bad intentions, sending an uncomfortable shiver up Lila's spine. She couldn't stand the guy, but there was honestly nothing she could do. She was just too nice or too powerless to do anything against him.

"Nothing that concerns you" Arnold butted in, much to Lila's surprise.

Wolfgang gave a death stare to Arnold, "I wasn't asking you football head, you know a lot of people missed you but I didn't."

"Do you think I give a..." he was cut off by Lila. "Hey you two stop! And seriously Wolfgang, knock it off you jerk." His clique looked at both of them in astonishment, did these freshmen, especially Lila, really just defy Wolfgang? Lila never spoke up against him like that, and for whatever reason, it also seemed to shut him up. They walked passed them, ignoring them until they finally arrived in front of her class room.

"Thanks Arnold..." she said softly, her almost whisper like voice full of genuine gratitude.

"Don't worry about it Lila, I wish worthless people like him didn't exist." He was angry, not just angry, he was absolutely _furious. _He hated people like Wolfgang, who had little to no respect for women. Arnold wasn't the type of person who would hold grudges or hate anyone, but he couldn't stand guys who viewed girls as mere property rather than human beings, and he wouldn't stand idly by while that pathetic bully harassed a sweet girl like Lila.

Lila frowned. "He's always been like that too me, I don't know why. It's been like that since middle school. I mean, usually I can just shrug people like him off, but I don't know, there's just something, well... threatening about him."

"Well it shouldn't be like that."

She sighed, he was right. "I know..."

"Then don't let it."

Lila was comforted by his words. There'd been a lot of guys she met, but none were like Arnold. He was compassionate, protective, and sympathetic. But she really didn't want him to get involved with Wolfgang, especially since that could potentially get him into a lot of trouble or even seriously hurt.

"Don't worry about it too much." She perked up, hoping to alleviate some of Arnold's worries. He looked a bit stress, and she knew it was because of what just happened.

"Please Arnold, just forget about it ok? He's not worth it." She reached for his shoulder, hoping that it would relieve some of the tension's that were building up inside him. It seemed to work since his rate of breathing seemed to slowly return back to normal.

"Well here's my class, I'll see you in English. Just take it easy ok?" She gave him a quick hug before she entered into her class, waving him goodbye as the door closed.

Arnold nodded, his encounter with Wolfgang still dangling on his mind.

* * *

His first day of high school was proceeding relatively fast, and before he knew it he found himself in his final class; Accelerated English. Turns out hitting high school wasn't so bad after all.

As Arnold entered into the classroom, he was somewhat caught off guard by how young their teacher was. She appeared to be in her early twenties, and had golden blonde hair with astonishingly bright brown eyes. It's not like he was interested in her, he was far too young for that, it's just that he happened to notice her unique features. Re-diverting his focus, his vision browsed the room, in search of the familiar dark reddish-brown hair that belonged to Lila.

When he finally managed to spot her in the rows of chairs, she waved back at him, welcoming him to sit in an empty desk next to her. He paced down the row while many of the student's awkwardly stared him down. He hated being one of the last ones arriving to class, and this was just one of the reasons why. He sat down in his seat, right next to Lila.

"So how do you like high school so far?" He whispered.

"It's alright, how's yours?" Lila replied.

"Not as bad as I thought... minus that little run in we had."

Their conversation was interrupted by the teachers voice, which sounded shockingly welcoming but commanding at the same time.

"Welcome to Hillwood high. Obviously I will be your English teacher for the year." she paused before speaking again. "You can all address me as Ms. Mckenzie, or you can just call me by my first name, formalities don't really matter to me anyway... So how are you all enjoying your first years so far?"

"Eh it's ok" a student towards the back answered back. She waited patiently for more comments or outbursts, but finally came to the conclusion that there were none.

"Dead class I suppose... anyone else care to ask a quick question or comment?" She surveyed the class, finding no volunteers. "Aw c'mon guys, I don't bite. Seriously I'm probably the youngest teacher here, which means I'll probably understand where your all coming from!"

She had a point, hell, she even looked like a student herself. How she possessed enough knowledge to teach a high school class was beyond Arnold.

"Well, seeing that many of you seem to lack the proper intelligence to voice your opinions, we'll start by introducing ourselves." Ms. Mckenzie's tone was intentionally sarcastic, causing many of the student's to chuckle.

"My full name is Reena McKenzie, I graduated from Harvard at the age of twenty." Everyone's jaws in the room dropped, too stunned to even comment. She smirked, expecting such a reaction from her class. "Yeah I know, what am I doing here right? Well I decided that sure I can be making six, probably even close to seven figures, but it isn't as rewarding as helping developing individuals such as yourselves attain a heightened sense of systematic instruction."

"Wait what?" a student near the middle of the room unconsciously blurted out.

The blonde teacher snickered quietly, "well this is an _a__ccelerated_ class after all, so you should've understood that. But since I seem to have lost many of you, any of you care to paraphrase what I just said?"

"What she meant is that instead of benefiting herself, she decided that she would rather help student's like us learn." A timid voice answered, her summary short and to the point. Arnold searched around the class room, only to find that the person responsible for answering was right beside him.

"Very good! And your name is...?"

"Lila Sawyer."

"Excellent answer Lila, I can tell you'll do just fine in this class." and with that she began handing out the syllabus for the class.

* * *

The rest of English class passed uneventfully, and before Arnold knew it, his first day of high school was officially over.

"See you all tomorrow students! Remember tomorrow is a regular day which means you get off at 2:30!"

Both Arnold and Lila got up at the same time, already assuming that they would walk out of class together. They promptly exited the class room; school busses left exactly at 12:25pm on minimum days, and it was already 12:15. Either they got there on time or they walked home, which actually wouldn't be a bad consequence for Arnold with Lila in his company.

Rushing down the hallways of Hillwood high school, Arnold was curious to see if Lila's after school schedule was free.

"So what you doing after school?"

"Um, I think I got a doctor appointments, then right after I have to start some my homework unfortunately. How about you?"

"Probably help move in the rest of my stuff back into the old boarding house." He solemnly replied back.

"Aw, that doesn't sound very fun. How'd you guys manage to get the place back?"

Arnold dug through his memory. "Well, we just left in under the care of a family friend."

"I see, well at least you guys didn't lose your property like me and daddy, I honestly really miss living in Pleasantville." Lila stopped walking, a painful memory suddenly conjured up in the girl's head. Arnold turned back to see what the sudden commotion was about.

"You ok Lila?" The girl snapped out of her trance, nodding in response to Arnold's question.

Lila sighed, "Yeah, just a little flashback that's all"

"Are you sure? It looked like you were sick to your stomach or something." He was concerned at this point, this was so uncharacteristic of her.

"No, I'm fine, thanks for asking though. Besides if I didn't move from Pleasantville I wouldn't have met you, Gerald, Phoebe, Helga, and all my other friends." She insisted, smiling back in order to draw away any suspicions.

* * *

The two stumbled upon the convoy of buses where student's were already waiting to enter.

"Hey Arnold! Where were you man? The buses are about to leave!" Gerald shouted from near the one of the yellow vehicles, mistakenly leaving Phoebe behind.

"What up Gerald, well our classes are all the way in the back of the school so it takes awhile to get here." _Our? _What was he talking about? Gerald didn't see anyone else with him, but then again he wasn't really paying attention. The boy switched his attention to Arnold's side. Oh, now it made sense. Gerald grinned, proud that Arnold was taking the initiative, or so he thought.

"Oh, sup Lila, didn't see you there."

"Hello Gerald." she politely acknowledged back.

As Gerald began talking to Arnold and Lila, he felt a tap on his shoulder.

"So what made you think that it was a great idea to just leave without even so much as an explanation why?"

Oh man, Gerald was really in for it this time Arnold thought, and Lila seemed to get the message too, as she was chuckling quietly.

_Your an idiot Gerald, you know that?_

"Well obviously I came up to talk to Arnold and Lila, besides, we're riding on the same bus anyway!" Gerald defended, hoping to avert her wrath. Phoebe smirked, much to everyone's confusion. Then straight up out of no where she embraced perplexed Gerald. "Aw I love how honest you are!"

"Your not mad at me...?" Gerald asked hesitantly.

"Of course not, why would I be?" Well he wasn't going to question that.

The doors to the busses opened, and the student's were slowly admitted in. Gerald and Phoebe entered first, hoping to sit in the back for, well, obvious reasons. Lila and Arnold were about to enter into the bus when Lila suddenly heard her name.

"Hey Lila, where you going?" Rhonda questioned; all of them always sat in the same area on the bus, with Phoebe being the exception.

"Oh well I was about to sit next to.. um... Arnold, why?" she responded back cautiously.

"Girl you know we always sit on the bus together!" The self-proclaimed fashion queen joked back. Meanwhile Nadine and Helga were walking towards Rhonda from behind, causing Lila to become noticeably uncomfortable. How would _she_ react seeing this?

She turned to Arnold, waiting for a response. It didn't feel right leaving him alone, and she certainly wasn't the type to rudely leave unless stated otherwise.

"It's ok if you sit next to your friends Lila, I don't mind." Truth be told he actually did to an extent, but he wanted her to decide for herself.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, it's fine."

The bus driver honked, "we're running a tight schedule I don't got all day!"

Lila nodded at Arnold, waving goodbye as she headed to back of the to line to wait with her friends.

_Can't win them all man, just be glad Lila's friend with you again._

* * *

**A/N: Like always, review, that's always welcomed! Let me know how you feel about the story, it motivates me to update faster!**


	3. One Step Forward

A/N:** Sorry it took me so long to update, been busy with summer school and work.**

**As a quick side note, I am greatly aware of the controversy surrounding this couple, and I did so knowing the risks of posting a fanfic about them. **

**Besides, if you do not like this story, don't read it, it's that simple! I apologize for this brief message, and thanks to anyone and everyone who is reading/reviewing/following/supporting this story. **

* * *

Chapter 3: One Step Forward

Arnold found himself in his bed, unable to sleep. He had just finished unpacking his room, moving everything to their exact places before he moved. He must admit, he truly missed his old bedroom, especially the panoramic sunroof that gave him a beautiful view of the night sky above. It always seemed to always simmer him down, even if he had a rough day. He was glad he came back to Hillwood, and equally grateful that his first day went so well.

The fourteen-year-old Arnold's mind ran rampant as he tossed and turned constantly in his bed in search of a comfortable position. It still bothered him how he left Lila without saying much, even if they were only friends. Of course he was back now, but he had left her for four whole years, who knew how she felt during all that time.

Even though Lila had blatantly admitted to him that she didn't 'like-like' him during elementary school, that didn't stop them from bonding together and becoming close companions. But now that they were older, the fact that she turned him down didn't matter, after all, the concept of a relationship back when they were younger were far different from the ones that formed now. It may have just been high school, but this is where many people are molded, and where the notion of a finding a significant other truly starts. Lila had gotten so overwhelmingly gorgeous, especially when taken into consideration that she was only a freshmen. He couldn't help but stare every time he was with her, and luckily for him, she either didn't notice, or didn't mind. In all actuality, she was probably used to it by now, and it surprised Arnold how she remained so pure and innocent, especially since she possessed such a stunning figure and seemed to attract guys like bee's to a flower. But he knew Lila wasn't the type of girl to fall head over heel's for just some random boy; she was much more mature, much smarter than that. As he pondered with his thoughts while staring at the night sky, he began to feel his eyes slowly shut until he finally descended into a deep slumber.

Things were looking up for the boy, and he couldn't wait to see what is in store for him in the future.

* * *

_...One Month later..._

_Hey Arnold! Hey Arnold! Hey Arnold!_

Arnold lazily fell out of bed as he tried to shut off his rather annoying alarm. _God, why did I decide to put you out of my reach, _Arnold thought to himself as he attempted to pull himself up, finally silencing his clock. After he took a shower, he found it difficult to decide what to wear today. His tastes in clothes have become rather urban, and he grew fond of brands such as Stussy and Supreme. After ages, he finally decided to wear his favorite blue sweater and a plaid undershirt, having wasted far too much time searching through his rather large wardrobe. He checked his clock; 6:20am, and the bus left at 7:00am, leaving him more than enough time to catch some breakfast since the bus stop was only a five to ten minute walk from his house.

Walking down stairs, he ran into Grandpa Phil, who was busy hanging up picture frames on the walls.

"Going to school already Short man?"

"Um yeah, gotta catch the bus remember? Anyway I'm going to get some breakfast then head out, see ya round Grandpa."

Phil turned and nodded, causing one of the picture frames to fall violently on the ground. "Good for nothing, stupid pictures frame, stupid!" The irritated man's voice faded away as Arnold entered into the building's kitchen, which was surprisingly empty, it's other tenants still sleeping. To Arnold's and his grandparents astonishment, all the original boarders that they left were all still living here, which made adjusting back to Hillwood city all the easier. Guess something's never change Arnold thought to himself.

Grabbing a pop tart, he dashed out of the building and paced towards the school bus stop, eating his breakfast on the way. He was somewhat excited to go to school now a days, especially since he was beginning to meet new people, and catching up with old ones, particularly Lila. For the most part, his time back in Hillwood was sound, but one thing still constantly aggravated his mind. Despite Lila begging him to shrug it off, Arnold was growing an immense grudge toward Wolfgang, especially since he constantly harassed Lila. He couldn't tolerate the bully's rude behavior and inappropriate sexual remarks, in a matter of fact, there were a couple times Arnold nearly punched Wolfgang straight in the face, but his attempts were always foiled by Lila.

One of these days Wolfgang was going to get what he deserved if he kept this up.

As he approached to the bus stop, he was greeted by Gerald, who was already waiting idly by for the bus to arrive.

"What up Arnold?"

"Nothing much Gerald, how's you and Phoebe?"

"Good man, good, how's you and Lila?"

Arnold blushed, "Dude I already told you we're just friends!"

"Yeah, whatever man." Gerald already knew something about their relationship that Arnold was either denying or couldn't figure out.

The bus pulled up, and the two friends quickly rushed aboard, eager to sit at their usual spot in the front of the vehicle. Finding nothing to talk about, they sat for several minutes until the school bus stopped to load in more students. As the young group of teens scampered to find seats, Lila's group of friends passed by, all of them greeting Arnold with the exception of Helga, who for whatever reason discontinued calling him football head. In a matter of fact, she seemed to be ignoring him all together, and appeared to be a little depressed, which was highly unusual considering the girl's character.

"Morning Arnold!" Lila said brushing by while she beamed a bright smile. As selfish as it may have seemed, Lila was probably the only reason why Arnold was even slightly excited about going to school, stirring up a multitude of negative and positive consequences.

Since Lila was highly intelligent and polite, Arnold attempted to impress her by trying to ace tests, participate in class, and turn in all his homework. It's not like he wasn't already going to try and be one of the top student's in his class, it's just that Lila seemed to motivate him more, especially when she gave him words of encouragement and support.

However, Arnold also began stirring up unnecessary conflict with several guys around the school who attempted to 'get at her' so to speak. He honestly didn't mind her having guy friends at all, especially when he knew that all of them would be friend zoned, a fate he hoped he wouldn't have to endure, that is, if he really did _like_ Lila. But the others he couldn't stand, for many of the guys who were flirting with her were just trying to get into her pants, especially Wolfgang, who he held a total grudge against. But fortunately Lila re-assured him that she would never go for such degenerative people.

Almost instantly, Arnold perked his head up. "Hey Lila." he greeted back, her presence already making him feel warm inside.

Today was going to be a great day, he could feel it, especially since it was Friday.

* * *

After a long, but bearable day, their last class finally ended, marking the official start of the weekend. It would also, or so Arnold was hoping , be the day where he finally mustered up the courage to ask Lila to hang out with him outside of school.

They had been talking to each other for about a month now, and Arnold still hadn't brought up the topic to Lila. He wasn't sure if it was because he was nervous, or because he was confused about his feelings towards her, but at this point he was finally going to ask, regardless if he liked her as more than a friend or not. Arnold was reluctant to confess to himself that he like-liked her because he had only talked to her for a short amount of time, and he wanted to be totally comfortable with her before he finally admitted to himself the obvious truth.

As Arnold and Lila walked outside of the class room, the blonde boy finally mustered up the courage to ask Lila his question.

"Hey Lila... um... what are you doing after school?"

"Um, nothing?" She said hesitantly answered back. "Why?"

"Oh, well I was just wondering if you wanted to... maybe hang out after school?"

Lila thought about it for a minute, she really wanted to hang out with Arnold, but she wasn't sure, especially since Helga was a little more down than usual. Helga claimed that it was family problems at home, but Lila knew better. Her friend's strange behavior all began when Arnold and her started talking, which made it obvious that there was a correlation between that and Helga's despondent state. Lila tried to talk to her about it, but Helga either changed the topic or flat out ignored her. In all honesty Lila wasn't sure what to do, and even Rhonda and the others couldn't figure the tomboy out. She had an internal battle raging within her; either she deny his offer, or accept it, risking possible conflict with Helga.

Then, as if something took control over her body, she responded.

"Of course Arnold, where?" She did it, there was no turning back now.

"Um, maybe at Gerald's house? He's bringing along Phoebe."

"Hmmm ok, I guess we'll just get off at the same stop as Gerald then. Let me call my daddy and tell him first ok?"

Arnold nodded, walking away so that Lila could make the call.

After Lila called her dad and talked to him for several minutes, she finally returned, bearing great news. "Daddy say it's fine, I'll meet you at the bus stops ok? I have to catch Phoebe first."

Internally, Arnold breathed in a sigh of relief, for a second she thought her father was going to be one of those overly strict parents who would refuse to let their daughters go out anywhere without them.

Finally, they would be have a life outside of the school.

* * *

"Dude, I got Lila to hang out with me after school at your house!"

Gerald smirked, about damn time. "Finally, maybe you two can make out or something."

"Dude... we're not even like that", Arnold frowned.

"Mhm, keep lyin' to yourself Arnold."

Arnold comprehended Gerald's words, was he lying to himself? That's impossible, he'd have to at least talk to her for another few months, maybe even a year or two before he would know definitively if he like-liked her or not. Of course she was drop dead gorgeous and had a warming aura around her, but as of now he considered her as only a friend. After all, they were only freshmen, and he didn't believe in love at first sight, yet alone love at such a young age, and he knew Lila didn't either.

As they waited near the bus stop, the girl's finally approached them, Phoebe and Lila dispersing from their group. They were chatting about something, but Arnold and Gerald could hear none of what they were saying.

"Hey Phoebe, do you know why Helga's been so well, sad lately?" Lila questioned as they got closer and closer to the boys.

Phoebe faced a concerned Lila "Well, she told me it was family problems, but she didn't really get into specifics."

"That's what she told me to... but I think it's more than that..." She felt slightly guilty about what she was doing, even though in reality there was nothing morally wrong about it.

Hastily walking towards Gerald and Arnold, Lila looked back at her group of friends who were all busy chatting, all except for Helga. The blonde girl was staring at her in silence, her vivid blue eyes glaring somewhat coldly at the red-headed girl, who's level of discomfort was increasing by the second. Then, much to her relief, Helga turned away to join the conversation with her group of friends. Now it was clear that there was something going on in Helga's life, and she was pretty sure it had to do something with Arnold. But right now that would have to wait.

"Hey Lila!" Arnold greeted giving her a hug.

"Hi Arnold, I guess we'll just sit together on the bus behind Phoebe and Gerald since we're all getting off at the same time."

_Perfect_, the blonde boy said to himself mentally. Of course he meant that in sort of a weird friend kind of way, after all he didn't even like-like her yet.

Or so that's what he told himself.

As they found themselves situated comfortably on the bus, Arnold noticed that Lila was acting a bit strange, like there was something bothering her.

"Lila, everything ok? Is it stupid Wolfgang again?"

Lila faced him, her light green eyes sparkling in the sunlight coming though the bus window. "Not at all... just, um... deep in thought, but thanks for asking."

"Ok, just remember if anything..."

"Shhh.." the girl hushed unsuspectingly.

Arnold suddenly found his mouth shut and his body instantly relaxed. The way she got him to quiet down was strangely... intimate.

About ten minutes later, the bus pulled up at their stop, and Gerald and Phoebe who were sitting in front of them instantly got up.

"Time to get off Arnold and Lila, let's go." Gerald said as he stretched his arms up into the air.

The four exited the bus, stepping onto the sidewalk below them. Gerald's house was about a fifteen minute walk from their location, assuming they didn't make any stops on the way.

"So what are we going to do at your house babe?" Phoebe questioned as she rose her face close to Gerald's.

"Hmm... good question, why don't you ask Arnold and Lila?" he purred back, quickly pecking her lips with his.

"Oh god Gerald, you do know I'm behind you right?!" Arnold exclaimed.

"Well if it bothers you that much, why don't you do the same with Lila?" He joked back, kissing Phoebe once again.

"Um..." Arnold blushed, he cursed Gerald under his breath for making things so awkward! Lila chuckled quietly, having witnessed Arnold's face instantly transform into an intense, almost burning red from Gerald's little comment.

"Aw stop it babe, your embarrassing him!" the Asian girl intervened, before whispering something else into his ear. "Besides... I'm not sure if that's the wisest thing to do... you should know."

Gerald perked up. "But I thought she was over him...?"

Phoebe smacked Gerald straight in the back of the head.

"Ouch! What the hell was that for?!"

"Over who?" Arnold interrupted from the back.

"Oh nothing, just talking about some random stuff, you know!" Phoebe added quickly in order to draw away any suspicions.

They turned the last block, completing the journey to Gerald's place, which was evidently remodeled compared to when Arnold last saw it.

"Finally." Gerald muttered, quickly grabbing his key and inserting it into the door.

The four friends entered into a medium sized living with a large LCD screen hanging on the wall, several couches situated in an 'L' shape around it, and a charging laptop in the middle that was on the coffee table.

"Make yourselves at home, I'll go get some food in the kitchen, any of you guys wanna come with?"

Lila and Arnold sat next to each other on the main couch, and Phoebe sat on the other main couch just to the side of them.

"No, we're fine, I'll stay here with Arnold and Lila." Phoebe answered back.

"Suit yourself babe." Gerald said disappearing into the kitchen room.

Trying to break the awkward silence, Phoebe spoke up "So... Arnold, how do you like your first month back in Hillwood?"

"It's been great so far, I mean a lot of things have changed but I can get used to it."

"Yeah... a lot has changed, some for the worse... but a lot for the better."

"I've noticed... I also see Wolfgang's still an ass hole."

"Language Arnold!" Lila hit him gently on the leg, "I thought I told you not to worry about him!"

Phoebe sighed, "Eh, Wolfgang has always been like that, just don't pay attention to him and you should be fine."

Arnold was about to keep the conversation going when Lila gave him a sudden death stare, giving him the queue to drop the subject. Even though they were just friends, they sure did act like they were a couple at times, and this was just one of the many examples.

Phoebe heard footsteps, and twisted her head to see what Gerald was carrying. Judging by how much time it had took him, he must be carrying a sizable amount of food for all four of them.

"I'm back with chips!" Gerald interrupted, carrying a bowl.

Guess not.

"Are you kidding me? It took you ten minutes to get chips?" Phoebe mocked.

Gerald brushed his shoulder, "Pshhttt, unless you want to get some food yourself go knock yourself out."

Phoebe sighed, it's not like she was hungry anyway.

"So now that that's settled what you guys wanna do?"

Phoebe face palmed herself. "And you don't even know what to do in your own house?! You're unbelievable!"

"If I'm so unbelievable, why are you dating me?" He smirked.

"I hate you." She pouted, knowing that he won the argument.

Meanwhile, Lila was busy searching through the files of movies while the two pestered each other, providing Arnold a sense of entertainment. Her searching finally pulled off when she reached out for a movie, causing Phoebe to immediately gasp. "Oh my god! I love that movie!"

Arnold turned to Blu-Ray Lila was holding, on the cover it read '_A Walk To Remember.' _He'd never seen the movie himself, but he sure heard about it a lot, especially among the girls around his school.

"Gerald, can we watch this?" She asked ever so politely.

"Um, sure why not, how bout your Arnold? It's super over-romantic, and it's all gushy, I don't think you'll like it."

"Oh shut up." Phoebe interrupted.

"He's just saying that because the last time he saw this movie he started crying, and may I add, he cried more than _once_."

"I did not!" Gerald protested. "I had something in my eye! Plus it was allergy season!"

"Yeah, sure, ok, whatever." The Asian girl interjected.

"It's fine Gerald, go ahead and put in the movie, I'm pretty sure that's what Lila would like to watch." Arnold responded back, causing a delighted Lila to stare back at him.

* * *

Now Arnold knew that Phoebe was telling the truth.

About almost an hour later, Gerald was totally submerged in his cinema experience, making side comments, and even tearing up at several of the scenes. He was cuddled up with Phoebe, who was busy falling asleep on his chest.

How she was able to fall asleep amidst Gerald's sniffing was beyond Arnold.

Unbeknownst to Arnold, Lila had scooted up against his side during the first half of the movie, and he could feel the side of her leg touching his. He turned to stare into her face, which seemed to be pretty deep in thought as the scenes of the film kept rolling by. She appeared so calm and gentle, her undisturbed gaze seemingly examining the movie's plot, puzzling all of it together.

He diverted his attention back to the movie, finding it quite interesting. From what he could tell, it was about a popular high school kid who is forced to participate in after school activities, which causes him to meet a girl he ultimately grows closer and closer with. It was only about half way done, and he couldn't wait to see the rest of the film unfold.

It was at this moment he felt something warm lay against his body.

Somewhat stunned, he found that Lila had rested her head on his shoulder and that her body had moved up against the side of his for added comfort. None of them said a word, and Arnold dared not speak for fear of ruining this perfect moment.

Lila stared up into his eyes and smiled, causing Arnold to warmly smile back.

He was enjoying every second of her warmth, he'd never felt so soothed in his entire life. Of course he was still young, and he knew experiences like this would become more common and common as he grew, but he couldn't help but feel that this was something, for lack of a better word, unique.

There current physical stature caused the boy to re-evaluate his relationship with Lila. Now he was certain that he had feelings for her, but he still wasn't sure to what extent.

* * *

The movie ended after nearly two hours.

During the course of this time, Gerald had went through an entire box of tissues, and Phoebe was now just waking up, tired from her hard classes. Arnold asked several times if his friend was ok, but he insisted that it was allergies, or that something got caught into his eyes. In fact, Gerald was too busy sobbing away that he hadn't notice that Lila was quite literally snuggling comfortably up against Arnold.

"Well that was a depressing ending." Arnold muttered, Gerald's sniffing echoing throughout the room.

"How? I thought it ended on a happy note!" Lila perked up. "I mean think about it, Landon was originally headed towards the wrong direction, but when he met Jamie, he changed, eventually entering medical school." she paused, Arnold never turning away from her. "And even though Jamie dies of leukemia, her and Landon would always be connected, even after death, and that's what the movie is ultimately about."

Arnold initially didn't see the movie that way, but now that Lila put it into perspective for him, it made sense. Her level of understanding and maturity intrigued him, and it felt as though Lila was actually older than she physically was.

Lila abruptly felt her phone vibrating, causing her to remove herself from Arnold's shoulder, much to his dismay, and answered the call.

"Hi Daddy." she responded instantly on the phone.

Arnold could hear the muffled voice of Lila's father.

"Oh, um, ok... Bye daddy, see you soon." She hung up the phone as she glanced at Arnold and then towards Phoebe and Gerald.

"Sorry guys, dad wants me home, he's been really paranoid about me staying after dark lately."

Even though Lila's father for the most part was very lenient with his daughter, when it came to safety, he was very protective, and at times over-bearing.

"Aw, well that's fine Lila, see you at school."

"Yeah, see you then." The farm girl promptly lifted herself from the couch seat, and gave everyone in the room a quick hug. When Lila finally came up to Arnold, she held him much tighter and longer than everyone else in the room. She was significantly shorter than him, which resulted in her head being nicely placed on his chests when she tilted her head downward.

"So your dad's going to pick you up?" Arnold questioned as she let go of his body.

"Nope... I have to walk."

Lila walk alone? This was something he simply could not allow, especially in her part of the neighborhood. Sure, it was still sunny outside, which is why her father wanted to start coming home now, but Arnold wasn't going to take any chances. The thought of the red-haired girl potentially being stuck after dark and becoming a victim of some horrible crime haunted him.

"Seriously? I'll call my grandpa and he can drop you off at your house."

Lila's eyes widened at Arnold's offer. "Really, are you sure it'll be fine with your grandpa? I mean if it's-"

"Yeah, it'll be fine, besides I don't want you walking out there alone when it gets dark." Arnold interjected.

"Aw, well thanks Arnold, that's very sweet of you."

Arnold pulled out his phone and searched for his grandpa's number. "No problem, I'll call my gramps, be right back."

* * *

"So your name is Lila right?" Phil asked as the girl entered the back of the old green Packard.

"Um, yes, thanks for the ride once again."

"No problem, so your the famous girl Short Man here always talks about!"

"Gramps!?"

Phil winked at Arnold, who was sitting at the front. Arnold cringed, he basically set himself up for embarrassment.

"Well," the old veteran briefly glanced back at Lila, "I wouldn't mind my grandson getting with a pretty young gal like you."

Arnold peeked at his rare view mirror, spotting a fidgety but blushing Lila.

"Excuse my grandpa," he grunted towards Phil, "his humor can be a little dry sometimes."

"It's not a joke if it's true." Phil added, creating an awkward silence in the car for the remainder of the ride.

Several minutes later, much to both of the high school student's relief, they finally arrived at Lila's apartment.

"Thanks for the ride" she waved at Phil as she exited the car, "and bye Arnold, see you at school."

Arnold watched as Lila walked up the steps to her apartment, which appeared to be in serious need of repair, but still in better shape than her old place. After she unlocked the entrance to her apartment, Lila turned around and waved off to them one last time before disappearing into the building.

Phil grinned, "you two should set date."

"Grandpa! We're just friends!" Arnold quickly defended.

The old man pushed on the acceleration of the car, "Whatever you say Short Man, whatever you say..."


	4. A Little Chat

A/N: **So, I think it's been like two weeks since I last updated? Sorry bout that semi long wait! **

**I kinda hit writer's block with this story, so if it takes me a long time to update again... well yeah it's most likely because of that lol. Anyway, this chapter is shorter than my usual updates, but I think it advances the story better.**

**Anyway, enjoy! Thanks again to all who are showing reading/showing support!**

* * *

Chapter 4: A Little Chat

"So Lila, what'd you do last Friday?" Rhonda questioned, absolutely eager to hear details from the red-head herself.

Lila paused, refraining from eating her food for a minute, "Um, well I told you guys, I was hanging out with Arnold, Gerald, and Phoebe."

"Oh yeah, so how'd that go?" The extravagant girl placed her elbow on the table and rested her head on her hand.

"It went well."

"That's it? Just well?" Nadine interjected, finishing her pizza.

"Um... well."

"Spit it out girl!" Rhonda exclaimed, making Lila jump out of her seat a little.

"Well, we kind of... um..." Lila was stuttering left and right, unsure how to word her close experience with Arnold.

"Did you..." Rhonda narrowed her vision in suspicion and disapproval, "Lila, did you two-"

"No! All we did was kind of cuddle on the couch while watching a movie ok?! Jesus Christ, what do you take me for? A whore?" The usually polite girl interrupted Rhonda before could finish her sentence, much to everyone in the group's surprise.

"You did?!" Rhonda turned to Phoebe, who was quietly sitting at the edge of the round table.

"Is this true?"

Phoebe shrugged, her mind too pre-occupied with something else.

"Oh. My God! Lila! You two would be so cute together!"

Lila waved her hands in protest, "Woah, Woah, you got the wrong message, we're just friends ok? Besides laying on his shoulder was the only comfortable position I could find."

"But you just said you two were on a couch, which implies a large seat that is soft and cushioned." Helga said out of thin air. The blonde girl grudgingly stared at Lila, who was now desperately trying to escape her cold gaze, caught completely off guard by Helga's words. She didn't expect Helga to speak up, but then again, she didn't count on confessing that she cuddled up with Arnold in front of all her friends either.

"Helga, you ok?" Phoebe asked, knowing exactly what was wrong with her stubborn friend.

"No, everything is NOT ok." Helga sounded extremely bitter and harsh, getting up to leave the group.

After Helga finally got far enough, the girl's immediately began gossiping about and questioning Helga's strange behavior.

"Well what was that all about?" Rhonda asked openly to her group of friends.

Lila rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly, "Um.. I think I know, I'll go and talk with her."

The red-head approached Helga from behind, noting her blonde friends impulsive violent behavior. Helga was sitting at a bench all by herself, looking rather drained and dulled out.

"Hey Helga." Lila said sitting next to her.

"What are you doing here?" Helga muttered.

An awkward silence briefly lingered between the two, before Lila finally responded back.

"What's wrong Helga? You've been really sad lately, and I know it's not 'family' problems like you claim. Can you please tell me?" The girl asked in the most gentle and subtle voice she could possibly produce.

"You're right... I haven't been myself, and it has nothing to do with my family."

"Then what is it, you know you can tell me."

Helga stared up at Lila, her eyes full of resentment, "You wouldn't understand." And with that, Lila's tomboy friend got up, giving her the cold shoulder as she passed by.

Even though she didn't tell her, Lila knew exactly what was lingering on Helga's mind, and it had to do with the recent interaction between her and Arnold. She felt a bit guilty, but in all actuality, she enjoyed being around the blonde boy, probably a little more than she should. There was as something about Arnold that attracted her, he was everything a girl would ask for, but at the same time she didn't want to put herself in a position that would compromise their growing relationship**_. _**Also, there was the slowly developing but inevitable conflict brewing between her and Helga, and that didn't make Lila any happier.

The bell rang, which marked the end of nutrition break, and Lila decided that instead of trying to confront Helga about the issue any time soon, she would just wait it out, hoping for another opportunity to talk to her distressed friend.

* * *

Arnold and Gerald were in PE class, along with Stinky, Sid, and Harold.

Too their relief, the teacher had dropped the usual running drills for today and decided to just have an easy day playing basketball. They all hated running, especially when they were timed.

Shooting a ball straight into the net causing it to make a swoosh, Gerald turned to Arnold and whispered.

"So... how bout Lila?"

Arnold snapped out of his day dream, his previous thoughts ironically thinking about the said person Gerald was asking about.

"Oh, we're good." He replied back, not really answering Gerald's question.

"You're going to need to give me a better answer than that lover boy."

"Dude! Stop calling me that!"

"Then answer the question without being so vague."

The blonde boy sighed, "ugh... ok fine, but not with everyone around." Arnold raised his brows at the trio.

If it's anything he'd learn quickly in high school, it's that the less people who know you have a thing for someone, the better. It was a standard he was going to try to follow until he finally graduated into college.

But trying is one thing, succeeding was a totally different story all together.

His best friend nodded in agreement, understanding why Arnold didn't want any eavesdroppers closing in on their conversation.

"Ay Sid!" Gerald called out.

Sid stopped dribbling the ball and faced Gerald's direction.

"We're gonna go walk around the gym, be back in a little."

Sid nodded, telling the others while Gerald and Arnold began to walk off.

"So what's the deal with Lila?"

"Um... it's kinda complicated." Arnold responded back.

The boy sighed, "dude, how? You're making it more difficult than it really is."

"It just is man, like I don't know..."

Gerald face palmed himself, totally frustrated by his friend's words.

"Here we go with the vagueness! C'mon Arnold, most guys would kill to be in your position, yet here you are clueless?! It's so obvious you and Lila have something going on."

Gerald did have a point, and he was decent at giving relationship advice... at times.

"But dude, I don't wanna rush anything, what if she doesn't like-"

"Oh. My. God" Gerald interjected, getting annoyed by Arnold's indecisiveness.

Then out of no where, Arnold noticed that Gerald's near whisper voice quickly transformed into total shouting, "Look, just hang out and talk to her more, make some moves, flirt a little, and you'll be good!" Multiple people in the gym looked at Gerald, but all turned their attention back to whatever they were doing.

"Dude OK I will! Just quiet down!" He was sure someone heard it, and if they did well-

"Flirt with who?" Harold came up quickly, Sid and Stinky following close behind.

Oh god, here it goes, now Arnold had to come up with a totally made up story to divert the unwanted spotlight that was shining on him.

"Oh, just um..." He was stumped, his mind was just completely absent from any thought.

"With this one girl from across the city! You guys don't know her."

Arnold widened his eyes at Gerald, who nudged him to play along.

"Err... Yeah! That one girl"

"What's her name?" Harold narrowed his eyes onto a squirming Arnold.

"I don't wanna tell, a secret ya know?"

And luckily for Arnold the bell rang, much to his relief.

"We'll find out eventually! It's high school, nothing's a secret!" The chubby boy commented before he left with Sid and Stinky.

His words echoed in Arnold's mind, was Harold right?

Perhaps his fondness for Lila would eventually come out, but he didn't want it to be revealed too soon.

* * *

Lila was sitting in biology, her third period and last class of the day. The way Hillwood high's schedule worked was that every Monday they would have all their classes, then on Tuesday they would have periods 1 - 3, Wednesdays periods 4 - 6, and so on. Unlike most of her peers, she actually enjoyed the lectures her teachers gave, and she found them quite interesting.

But today, Lila found her mind lingering on something else.

Did she like-like Arnold, and if so, how would she be able to handle Helga? So many questions, and little to no answers. Even though she was an extremely intelligent girl, she was unable to find a solution to her growing dilemma.

"So Lila, how many chromosomes do humans have?"

The red-headed girl snapped out of the bowels of her own mind, quickly perching up to answer the teachers question.

"Um, forty six."

"Very good Sawyer." the teacher resumed his lecture, leaving Lila back to her thoughts.

Phoebe, who also had the same class, was sitting directly behind her, tapping away Lila's shoulders. The attractive girl arched her head back towards her Asian friend, waiting for her response.

"Check your phone." Phoebe whispered.

Quietly pulling out her phone from her pocket, she unlocked the iPhone's screen, noticing that she had one unread message from her friend. She opened the message, reading it's contents.

_'You ok?'_

Lila texted back in response to her question.

'_Of course Phoebe, why?"_

Several seconds later, Phoebe felt her phone vibrate, and she responded back almost instantly.

_'You look like your spacing out, whats going on? You never lose focus in class!'_

Lila sneaked her phone into her binder, completely out of view from the teacher's vision. She knew this was probably going to be a lengthy text conversation.

_'Well, it's um... complicated.'_

Her phone received another message.

_'It's about Arnold huh?'_

She was about to stop texting back, but if she did, that would only enforce Phoebe's assumptions. Lila knew that no matter how she tried to spin this off, Phoebe was going to get the answer she wanted, making any attempts to cover up her little 'secret' futile.

'_Yeah...'_

The farm girl swore she could hear a quiet gasp from behind her, followed by another message being recieved on her phone.

'_I knew it! Why couldn't you just be up front with it?'_

Lila choose her words carefully, trying to avert any sort of mis-communication.

'_Well... I don't know, I'm kinda debating whether or not I have feelings for him."_

_'Omg, are you serious? Everyone knows! There's no need to keep it a secret..."_

_"But what about Helga..?"_

Suddenly, Phoebe stopped replying back, and Lila knew that she had probably asked something too sensitive. Helga's growing bitterness towards her was a growing problem, and she knew that there were no easy ways out of her situation. Instead, she would just have to learn to deal with it.

Ten minutes later, her phone vibrating, revealing a short message from Phoebe.

_'Talk after class'_

* * *

"So you wanted to talk to me after class?" Lila asked, waiting for Phoebe at the class room door.

"Yep... I think I should've talked to you about this earlier..."

The solemness in Phoebe's voice worried Lila, what was she talking about?

"What is it Phoebe?"

"Well... in case you haven't noticed, Helga's been acting weird lately, and since I don't want to beat around the bush, it's because of _you._"

Lila wasn't that surprised to be notified about this, but regardless, she was still taken back by the Asian girl's bluntness.

"Oh... I figured, but why?"

"You know how Helga said she was over Arnold?" Lila nodded. "Well she lied, she's still has mad feelings for him, and now that you've entered the picture well you've-"

"Got in the way?"

"Yeah... basically."

Lila sighed, "So what do you propose I do Phoebe? I tried to talk to her about it, but she just keeps distancing herself away from me..."

"Well, I say just let her calm down, don't let it affect you too much."

Well that wasn't much help to Lila, that's what she was planning to do anyway.

"So what should I do about Arnold then?"

Phoebe looked up at her red-headed friend, "If you like him, you like him, nothing can stop that. In the end, it's up to you... not too long ago I would've said otherwise, but the more I see you two together, the more I.. well I'll let you figure it out."

She took a deep breath before she continued again "Besides, I don't think her liking Arnold is doing her any good anyway, it's been years and she's still lingering over him. She needs to get over him, and perhaps with a _little push_, she will. Anyway, my parents are giving me a ride today, see you tomorrow Lila!"

Phoebe waved off, leaving a deep in thought Lila behind.

What the hell did she mean by _little push? _Did she basically just give her the go ahead to take her best friends secret crush?


End file.
